


The Rule Of Three

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe- Werewolves are still a thing, Coffee Shops, Cosplay, Derek is Good with Kids, Kids, M/M, Meet-Cute, Midwife Derek Hale, Punk Stiles Stilinski, Sterek Bingo 2017, Vampire Stiles Stilinski, always a werewolf Derek Hale, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-27 02:03:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10799394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Stiles would like to consider himself as having a fairly normal life- you know, for a vampire anywayAnd then Superman walked into his coffee shop and that immediately changed





	The Rule Of Three

**Author's Note:**

> Day two of Sterek Bingo: Coffee Shop!!
> 
> I'm both happy and disappointed with how this turned out, I'm happy in that it's cohesive and tightly woven so it's a short-and-cute thing that has an ending that actually flows (wich I always have trouble with) but I'm also disappointed because the original ending I had is something I really wanted to write but this ending just flowed much much better
> 
> Original ending will be in the second section of author's notes
> 
> Oh also, I have experience with the jewlry thing, I wear jewlry like this and I get stopped fairly frequently by kids who think I'm a faery, a princess, a genie, etc, it's so cute and awesome that I had to put it in a fic at some point

Stiles would like to consider himself as having a fairly normal life- you know, for a vampire anyway

And then Superman walked into his coffee shop and that immediately changed

Seriously

Literal. SUPERMAN

And somehow he was even hotter in person than he was in the movies...

"Um, hi, I'll have a large green tea with sugar and honey, and a blueberry muffin please,"

"You got it, I have to admit, I didn't know the Man Of Steel was a tea guy," Stiles winked

Superman smirked just slightly, bowing his head and oh _**God**_ that was incredible

"Yeah well, even Kryptonians know a thing about too much caffeine,"

"Hey, I'm not judging, I'm just saying," he grinned back

Superman let out a soft, low chuckle as Stiles moved behind the pastry case and grabbed a blueberry muffin, clearing his throat

"SO! You on your way to a costume party or ... just on your way to your daily world saving duties?"

"The second one," he replied matter-of-factually

"Yeah? What've we got today? Alien invasion? Bank robbery? Ol' Lex Luthor up to no good again?" he guessed, setting the muffin in front of him before moving a few steps back to start on the tea

He usually hated being alone on Saturdays but he certainly didn't mind it now, especially because it was unusually empty for this time of day

"Some sick kids in need of cheering up actually,"

That made Stiles nearly drop the tea, heart skipping probably six or seven beats as his jaw dropped

"O-Oh," he squeaked

He really hadn't been expecting the guy to _actually_ be in the process of saving the world here, and as far as he was concerned, dressing up as a superhero to visit sick kids was _definitely_ in the world saving category

"I uh, I go every Saturday," he added, apparently sensing Stiles' near stroke

"O-Oh yeah? Always as Superman?"

"No no, I go as someone different all the time, never the same two back to back,"

"O-Oh yeah that... ok," he nodded, clearing his throat and licking his lips as he started brewing the tea

"I'm a Hufflepuff," Superman said suddenly, wich would have made Stiles nearly drop the tea again if he hadn't remembered he was wearing his Slytherin shirt

(Hell, he almost dropped it anyway, because Superman was a Harry Potter nerd and that was just _amazing_.... and totally accurate that he'd be a Hufflepuff too)

"Oh yeah? I'm a Slytherin, I mean, you know, obviously, because of the shirt, but uh, you know what they say about Puffs and Slyths!"

"That there's no greater pair," Superman concluded

"Hell yeah," Stiles grinned back

"My uh.. my sister and I have come to call them Honey Snakes, because-"

"Honey Badgers oh my God and I thought SlytherPuffs was the cutest thing I'd ever heard, I was _so. wrong_ ,"

Superman just grinned, reaching into a small pouch hanging around his waist (it was a little _Batman purse_ and if that wasn't the single cutest thing....) and pulling out a small handfull of bills

"How much-"

"Keep it, it's on the house,"

Superman blinked, surprised and confused, and opened his mouth to speak

"Seriously," Stiles interrupted

"I don't charge superheros,"

Superman looked conflicted, before his eyes glanced up towards the clock and he nearly jumped

"Shoot... I'm almost late-"

"O-Oh! Here!" Stiles said quickly, hurrying to pour the tea (thank God it was done) and mixing in the sugar and honey

"Fly off Superman!" he grinned, handing the cup over

"Thank you, really!!" Superman shouted back, running off out of the shop

It wasn't until he was gone that Stiles realized he didn't get the guy's name- much less his number...

This was probably going to be that once-in-a-lifetime encounter where Stiles had just met his soulmate and let him go, and he hated himself for that

 

~+~

 

By what must have surely been a miracle of life, it was not, in fact, the only time he ever saw Superman

In fact, the very next Saturday, Superman was back

Though this time he wasn't dressed as Superman, this time it was Wolverine

And it was shockingly convincing

"Hey there Bub," Stiles grinned teasingly

Wolverine gave a slight smirk, nodding towards him

"Green tea with honey and sugar and an apple danish please,"

"Ohhhhh Wolvy says 'please', I'm amazed," he teased as he turned to get the apple danish

"Yeah well, I'm in a good mood,"

Hell even his _voice_ was on point

Stiles may already be in love

"You know, you did a very rude thing last time," he pointed out

Wolverine's face suddenly fell, looking kind of heart-broken as he stared at the barista

"I did?"

"You never gave me your name or number,"

Wolverine let out an obvious sigh of releif and relaxed his shoulders, a shy smile on his lips

"Sorry, I wasn't aware you wanted them,"

Stiles just huffed, scoffed, and all-around tried to reject the fact that he.... was absolutely right, he had never indicated to Superman- Wolverine- that he was interested

Shame on him

"Well I'm telling you now,"

Wolverine smiled a little bit more, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wallet

(Oh God it was a Deadpool wallet someone kill Stiles immediately)

"Here," Wolverine said simply, handing over a business card

Stiles had never reached for anything so fast in his life that didn't have sugar in it

"Derek Hale.... holy CRAP you're a midwife!?"

Wolverine- _Derek_ \- had a shy smile and a much darker blush on his face as he dipped his head again

"Um... yeah...."

"That... dude, that's so incredible!!"

Derek's head jerked up, surprise scrawled all over his face

"You really think so?"

"I know so!! Man, that's awesome, do you like it? Your job?"

"Yeah, I do, it's ... I love kids, obviously, and it gives me the chance to help bring them into this world without the politics and discomfort of working for a hospital, I mean, not that there's anything WRONG with modern medicine but sometimes people just don't want to deal with things like the bright lights and chaos of a hospital room and want peace and quiet instead,"

"Understandable," he agreed with a quick nod

"Plus, most supernatural folks prefer to have midwives rather than go to hospitals, for obvious reasons,"

Stiles' mouth fell open a little bit more, turning to start the tea

"O-Oh, then you're...?"

"A werewolf, you can't tell?"

"Nah... I'm surrounded by coffee all day dude, my nose doesn't work anymore," he said with a teasing grin, reaching under the counter and handing Derek his own business card- though not before quickly scratching his email and phone number on the back, you know, just in case

Derek seemed to understand that pretty well, giving a small wince and a sympathetic nod

"So um... you never told me about your own ... interesting fashion choice going on here,"

Stiles blinked, looking down in confusion before realizing what Derek was referring to

The jewlry.... every now and then he forgot he was wearing it

He wore tons of it every day, necklaces and bracelets mostly but he had a couple of ear-wraps and rings too, he was almost certain that it weighed a pound or more combined- atleast that's what Scott always said

"Oh, it's nothing special, just... I'm DEEPLY needle phobic but I've always wanted to get tattoos so my dad made me this deal when I was a teenager that he'd buy me whatever jewlry I wanted if I promised to never get a tattoo-"

"And you REALLY took him up on that didn't you?" Derek teased

"Oh hell yeah, I wanted to make him regret making me that offer!!" Stiles laughed, setting the tea down in front of him

"But after about a year I kinda became known for it and I started really liking the way it felt so I just... kept going and now it's a _thing_ \- you know, easiest person to buy gifts for right here, because people just get me cheap jewlry- so now it's a personality thing, you know, a way of expressing myself and all instead of tattoos,"

"That's really cool," Derek said with a soft smile, and somehow Stiles could tell that he actually _meant_ it too wich maybe blew his mind a little bit

"You think so? Thanks, it's kinda a mixed reaction thing, some people think it's cool, some people think it's stupid-"

"It definitely isn't stupid," Derek immediately insisted

The confidence that he said that with warmed Stiles' heart

But sadly, before he could thank the werewolf for the compliment- or, you know, ask him out- Derek's face turned pale and he cursed under his breath, hurrying to grab his wallet from his pocket

"I'm running late again-"

"Then go on, seriously, I don't charge superheros, go go!" Stiles insisted with a grin

Derek seemed hesitant, but when he took another glance at the clock he knew that he wouldn't have a choice

"Thank you," he breathed again, taking his coffee and danish and rushing out of the coffee shop

Stiles heaved a longing sigh, but forced himself to turn his attention to the next customer in line- who by some miracle had only gotten there around the time that Derek noticed the clock

Oh well, he'd call him tonight- or maybe Derek would call him first, even- and all would be well

 

~+~

 

There was one problem with that: Derek didn't give Stiles his phone number

All he gave Stiles was what was on the business card, wich amounted to an address and an email address

Stiles didn't want to be _that_ guy who showed up at Derek's office like some creep- especially with the fact that Derek was a midwife and Stiles had the tendency to scare people upon first glance and he was maybe a little afraid of scaring Derek's patients

And he didn't want to use Derek's work email either because there were about a million and one things that could go wrong with THAT

So he decided that all he could do was wait for Derek to call- or email- him instead

So he waited....

And waited.........

And waited..........

And Derek never called (or emailed)

"I'm sure he's just busy, it's springtime! Lots of people are pregnant in the spring!"

Scott, though supportive, was absolutely unhelpfull

"Dude, he could take two minutes to type an email, especially with his hours,"

Because yes, Derek had his hours printed on his card and Stiles may have spent his lunchbreak a few days ago trying to dissect them

"Stiles, seriously, if you think you have some kind of connection with the guy-"

"I KNOW I have some kind of connection with the guy,"

"Then trust that it'll work out, it did with Kira and I,"

"It didn't with Allison," Stiles pointed out bitterly, and he rarely used that against his freind but... well, bitter times called for bitter measures

"She found someone else, and so did I, so we weren't meant for eachother,"

That last bit sounded almost painfull for Scott to say

Sure it had been three years since the last time they had been "on again" but Stiles knew that Scott still had some strange kind of hang up where he believed they may have been meant for eachother and they just screwed it up

"I know... but I really REALLY like this guy Scotty!! I mean, if I'm ever gonna get married, it'd be to this guy!!"

Stiles had always wanted to fall in love and get married but he had always thought he was just too weird for anyone to ever want to marry back- Derek though...

He _knew_ Derek was his soulmate

"You used to say that about me too,"

"Yeah but you turned out to be straight- wich is still a crime against nature, by the way, no offense to Kira- and this guy-!"

"Could also be straight," Scott pointed out

And as much as Stiles wanted to argue.... he was right

He didn't even know if Derek liked guys, or girls, or either or none

....

Well crap

"But I'd still like to be his freind if absolutely nothing else, I mean, look at me and Lydia! We became good freinds against all possible odds so it could work out with Derek too!"

"I know, but if it's meant to be it'll be," Scott insisted, giving his freind a gentle pat on the back before moving over towards the counter to address their first customer of the day

Stiles, in the mean time, ducked back into the kitchen to check on the cookies they had just put in, planning to overbake again just to have something to concentrate on other than his own misery

 

~+~

 

On Saturday morning, not long after opening, Derek was back- and Stiles had never been happier to see him

(Ok so maybe one out of three times didn't warrant "never been happier to see him" but it was still true)

This time, unexpectedly, he wasn't dressed as a superhero at all

"Daryl Dixon? You're still going to see kids right?"

"You'd be surprised how many kids watch The Walking Dead," Derek replied with a slight smirk

"I guess I would be," Stiles shrugged back, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously before opening his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted

"I'm sorry I haven't contacted you, by the way," Derek said suddenly, nearly reading Stiles' mind

"I lost your business card- at my office I think, I just... can't find it- and this place is on the other side of town from where I work so I haven't had the chance to come back and get your contact info yet,"

Stiles almost felt stupid for having been so paranoid now

_Almost_

"Oh, don't worry about it, seriously, I get it, it's fine, but uh... this time, you're giving me your phone number too, for insurance,"

Derek gave a slight laugh, nodding once and pulling his wallet out, setting it on the counter as he took out another business card and grabbed a pen from the counter to write down his info on the back

"I forgot to ask, are you um... getting your usual today? The green tea?"

"And a bear claw, please,"

"On it," Stiles nodded quickly, licking his lips and, as per usual, moving to get the pastry first

"SO you said this place is out of your way huh? How'd you find out about us?"

"I didn't," Derek replied simply, pushing his business card towards Stiles

"I mean... it isn't like I PLANNED on coming here... I work a bit of a ways from the hospital so I frequent two different coffee shops, the one before work through the week and the one before visiting the hospital on Saturdays, the one I used to go to on Saturdays closed down so I was looking for a new place to get my tea and saw your building a few weeks ago so... here I am,"

"Well as sorry as I am about your old place, I definitely take this as a victory on my part," Stiles replied teasingly, winking at the other man as he got started on the tea

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, you're the highlight of my week dude, you dress up in fun costumes to visit kids AND you manage to hit the dead zone on Saturdays when I'm usually just hanging around here bored, you're an angel in a costume,"

"You're here alone?"

"Yeah, just for another thirty minutes though, Scott, the guy who co-owns this place with me, has been helping his Abuela out Saturday mornings for the last few weeks because her pipes burst in her basement and it's an entire thing, it's fine though, Saturday mornings are usually pretty slow so I don't mind it except for the boredom,"

"Co-owns huh? I didn't know you owned this place, or... co-owned,"

"Oh yeah, Scotty and I opened it a couple of years ago, I was always mad about having to bring my own little flasks of blood to coffee places so we decided to open our own place that specializes in food and drinks for people like us, I would have told you earlier but we don't really have anything that's just for wolves yet, though we're brainstorming,"

"That's ok, I'm not sure I'd really want anything besides what you have now anyway, I don't know if you've noticed this but I have something of a sweet tooth," Derek noted, smiling as Stiles handed him the pastry

"Oh yeah, I've noticed," the vampire snorted back teasingly

"I've been meaning to ask you by the way, what got you into this? I mean... the thing with the cosplay and visiting kids?"

"Well... to be honest, it actually didn't start as cosplay at all,"

"Really? How did it start then?" the vampire asked, setting the coffee cup down on the counter

Derek opened his mouth to answer, but he ended up cursing instead, staring at the clock in horror as he quickly grabbed the coffee and pastry and ran towards the door

"I'm sorry! I promise I'll tell you later!" he shouted over his shoulder

Stiles huffed with annoyance, wrinkling his nose as he stared at the clock

"I need to get rid of you," he grumbled, because seriously, EVERY freaking time he and Derek started talking, he looked up and saw what time it was

Stiles kind of wondered why he was always running late but that was neither here nor there

He turned around, still grumbling to himself, and pausing, eyebrows raised as he took note of the fact that Derek's wallet was still on the counter....

_Crap_

He swiped the wallet, hurrying outside and ignoring the worried looks from the very few customers he had

All of the cars were empty, so Derek must have already left...

He stared over his shoulder at the coffee shop, then longingly out into the road, and cursed under his breath

He needed to get Derek's wallet to him, but he couldn't leave the shop unmanned

He would have to wait for Scott to get there, weather he liked it or not

 

~+~

 

Scott was, thankfully, quite understanding of his conundrum when he showed up and Stiles begged him for a couple of hours off- because who knew how easy or difficult it would be to find Derek? It might take a wile-

"Go, I'll be fine here, it's a slow morning anyway," he had insisted

And for the first time in ages Stiles was just thankfull that their weekends were slower than their weekdays...

He found himself standing at the entrance to the hospital with a heavy breath falling out of his lungs, anxiety prickling his veins

He didn't know why he was nervous...

Maybe it was because this would be the first time seeing Derek outside of work, or seeing Derek at his second job, or being in a hospital for the first time since he was a teenager and went too long without blood and had to raid the local hospital's supply...

It was probably a combination of all of that and more, plus hospitals just made him uncomfortable to begin with

But he pushed forward- because he _had_ to- and stepped inside

God he _hated_ hospitals, they were just so sterile, the smells of sanitizer and sickness stung his nose and he didn't know how a werewolf managed to spend so much time in a place like this because even his nose- wich was a little less sensitive- was twitching and burning, his head starting to ache

Maybe it was just something Derek had gotten used to over the years...

Provided he had even been doing this for years, that is, Stiles didn't know, given that their conversation had gotten cut off so early on

He glanced at the map on the wall, heading for the elevator to get up to the children's ward, and hoped that he could get through this without embarrassing himself...

It wasn't likely but hey, anything was possible

 

~+~

 

Luckily finding Derek hadn't been too hard, once he was in the children's ward atleast

He just had to follow the sounds of squealing

He poked his head around the corner, feeling his heart grow warmer at the sight of Derek sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by kids, answering questions, letting them play with his plastic crossbow, hell there were even little bows in his hair where one of the girls had clearly decided to give him a make over

(And Stiles could see EXACTLY wich one it was because she was currently painting glitter make up on Derek's cheek)

He hated to interrupt this, but he couldn't stand out here holding the guy's wallet forever, someone might call security at some point

Finally, he decided to just rip the bandaid off and tapped on the door, successfully winning the room's attention

"Um, Der-..yl... Daryl, I uh... have a very important message here from Rick that needs your attention,"

Derek, in perfect characterization, gave a slight grunt and quietly excused himself from the group of kids, making his way into the hall

"You left your wallet at the coffee shop," Stiles said quietly

"Oh ... crap... I didn't even notice, thank you so much-"

"Don't mention it, it's really, really not a problem," Stiles said sincerely as he handed the wallet back

"Still... thank you," Derek added again, slipping the wallet back into his pocket

_"Woah,"_

Stiles blinked, glancing over Derek's shoulder to see that the gaggle of kids was still there

At first he was worried that he had accidentally ruined the illusion for them, but then-

"It's a faery... he's a faery!"

Derek blinked in confusion, tilting his head as he tried to figure out what they were talking about

Stiles, on the other hand, perfectly understood the correlation

After all it wasn't the first time kids had called him a faery- he had also heard: Elf, prince, witch, and even genie, though none of them managed to peg him as a vampire, not yet anyway

"Mr. Daryl we didn't know you knew a faery!" one boy squealed

"Do you have wings?" shouted one of the little girls as she ran up and started to sift through his necklaces

"I'm Hannah, do you have a job?" asked another as she took a more cautious step towards him

"Can you kill zombies with your wand?" asked another boy as he ran up towards him

Stiles was a little overwelmed, but he didn't show it, he was kind of used to dealing with curious kids, the only difference now was the sheer number of them

"Um, yes, yes, and more yes," he laughed

"Daryl is that why you have wings on your vest?" one girl asked

"Those aren't faery wings, they're angel wings," huffed another

Derek, for his credit, was just trying to salvage what he could of his characterization before Stiles had busted in and couldn't quite keep up with all of this

"Well... um...-"

"Can the faery stay?"

"Um... he's kinda busy, ya' know, with Negan and all,"

And holy hell if that wasn't a great Daryl impression....

"I can stay," Stiles shrugged back, nudging Derek playfully

"I got permission from Rick,"

Derek's lips turned up slightly, a warm fondness in his eyes as he glanced back at Stiles

"Whatever you say then,"

 

~+~

 

"Thank you so much for helping out, that... that was really nice,"

Stiles snorted, shaking his head as he and Derek walked towards the parkinglot

"Seriously, don't mention it, it was my pleasure, I love being around kids,"

"You do?"

"Yeah, definitely, kids are great, plus I'm used to it, I'm kind of a walking spectacle dressed like this,"

Derek nodded slowly to that, adjusting the fake crossbow over his arm and smiling slightly at the other man

"Well.... how do you feel about cosplay?"

"I love cosplay, I don't do it much though, mostly for Halloween, I always wished I was more talented at it but frankly I really suck,"

"I'm sure you don't,"

"Oh trust me, I do," Stiles insisted- and with good reason

Derek would probably wince if he ever saw Stiles' last attempt at a cosplay...

"Maybe you just need a little push," Derek suggested, pausing outside in front of Stiles' car and biting his lip

"I ... really had a great time today, I was wondering if you might want to do it again sometime,"

Stiles perked, heart racing and eyes wide, face flushed and ... and if he blushed any harder he'd probably need a drink because he shouldn't even have this much blood in his entire _body_ honestly, much less all rushing to his face

"Yeah? You mean like... as a cosplay team or ... as a date?"

"As a cosplay team," Derek clarified

Though, before Stiles could feel TOO crushed by the overwelming weight of depression THAT caused, he added-

"AND as a date... if... that's something you want,"

"Oh I SO want," Stiles breathed with excitement

"Good, then um... I'll bring the costumes and you bring the tea? You think your partner would mind taking care of the shop for a few hours by himself next Saturday? I'd be willing to wait a little longer for you to be free,"

"He won't mind, trust me, he just wants me to get a date," Stiles snorted

"Great, then... I'll call you later? We can discuss themes,"

"Unless maybe... you wanted to grab some coffee and discuss themes now?"

Derek gave a soft smile, eyes going warm as he gave a quick nod of agreement

"Yeah.... coffee sounds great," he agreed, holding his hand out shyly as Stiles took it in his own

"Good, 'cause you owe me your origin story," he said smugly

"Oh do I now?" Derek asked with a teasing grin, leaning in a little bit closer

"Yeah, you do," Stiles smirked, leaning as well

"That's fair, but you owe me one too then, so how about we tell eachother in the car, then talk cosplay over coffee?"

"Sounds good to me," Stiles mused, wrapping his arms around Derek's neck

"I just have one little question,"

"Oh?"

"Yeah.... you don't actually like coffee, do you Derek?"

"Um.... no," Derek replied shyly, ducking his head

"But you were going to drink it anyway, just because I said 'coffee' instead of tea, weren't you?"

"Um.... yes?"

"Oh my God, that is the CUTEST freaking thing," Stiles squealed, wasting no time in pressing a soft, chaste kiss to Derek's lips

And _that_ is how Stiles ended up cosplaying for sick kids on weekends with his boyfreind

"By the way, why are you always running so late?"

"The barista at my last coffee place wasn't very talkative, I keep forgetting to leave earlier so I actually have time to talk to you,"

Derek never ran late again

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I was going to have Stiles and Derek cosplaying Star Lord and Gamora from Guardians Of The Galaxy for the kids with Star Lord!Stiles dancing down the hall to "Hooked On A Feeling"- and I also lowkey wanted to mention one of their first pair cosplays as being Deadpool and Spiderman but that didn't happen either- but honestly this ending just flowed so much better and had kind of a nice, decisive cut-off wich I almost NEVER manage to get organically so I had to go with it, oh well... ^^;


End file.
